1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to an electronic system and software for multielectrode sensors and other electrochemical devices.
2. Background
Coupled multielectrode array sensors (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,683,463 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,132,593) have been used for corrosion monitoring and electrochemical studies for some time now [L. Yang and N. Sridhar, “Coupled Multielectrode Online Corrosion Sensor,” Materials Performance, 2003, September issue, page 48]. U.S. Pat. No. 6,683,463 to Yang and Sridhar (2004) disclosed a coupled multielectrode sensor system, in which each electrode is connected to a common joint through a resistor with substantially the same value as the resistors connected to other electrodes, and a multichannel high-precision voltmeter is used to scan the potential drop across each resistor to obtain the current flowing though the resistor. In a localized corrosion environment, some electrodes act as anodes and others act as cathodes; some of the anodes corrode more and produce high currents, and some of the anodes corrode less and produce low currents. The use of a single-valued resistor for all of the electrodes makes some electrodes at too high or too low potentials, which may compromise the simulation of a one-piece metal by the multiple electrodes. This is because the coupled multielectrode sensor concept requires that all of the electrodes of the multielectrode sensor operate at the same potential, just as the different sections of a one-piece metal are at the same potential. To date, there has been no software available that allows the flexible configuration of the multiple electrodes during measurements. This invention is related to a highly functional commercial instrument and a user-friendly and flexible software program for monitoring corrosion or studying electrochemical processes using the concept of multielectrode corrosion sensors or electrochemical devices.